Vegan inspirations by the four winds

Tag Archives: berlin

We’ve been a bit “out of blog” lately. This doesn’t imply we don’t cook, it rather means that some lovely visits and parties kept us busy.

Abel looking satisfied after Café Morgenrot-brunch

You might have noticed, that Berlin is quite inspirational for vegetarians and vegans. Right when we landed, before heading to my family’s place, we went to have a big brunch to Cafe Morgenrot. It’s a collective café, meaning it is run by a politically critical community. They state to be emancipated, against discrimination and without hierarchies. They have cinema evenings, exhibitions, “Stitch ‘n Bitch” sessions, feminist round tables, etc. Interesting.

What you definitely couldn’t find here: any sign of the world cup. Hell yeah!

A hearthwarming buffet

Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday they also offer a huge vegetarian brunch with overwhelming vegan options. And the best; You pay what you like! Or actually, depending on your social/financial status, you pay what you can!

Hungry travellers’ breakfast

At this brunch we ate a yummie beetroot paste, which reminded me of the one my childhood friend Zsofia Szigeti (now photographer Sophia Veres) prepared when we were…well, kind of kids. Thus, I tried to reconstruct the recipe, with success.

BEETROOT PESTO

Ingredients (for about 2.5 dl)

1.5 cups of beetroot (peeled and chopped)

1 cup of walnut

2 tbsp of balsamico (or any other vinegar)

1 tbsp of salt

2-3 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp of olive oil

2 tbsp of vegan milk

a pinch of freshly grated pepper

Preparation time: 8 minutes

Mix it well together with a blender until you get a soft paste.

It is a versatile paté, that you can use as a dip for a BBQ (check), on a sandwich instead of butter (check), on a toast bread just like that (check) or even as a vegan pesto, with pasta. Simple and tasty, here you go!

No matter if you are a local or a tourist, the must-do on an average sunny Sunday in Berlin is to have a late brunch (you might want to check out Café Morgenrot for a great veggie option) and hang out the rest of the day in the Mauerpark in P’berg.

What you can do there? It would be easier to answer the question: what not?

Mauerpark flea market

Mauerpark, is it name already reveals, is a piece of forgotten history. You can still see bits of the Berlin Wall here, as it used to be part of the Death Zone. To date, there is an awesome flea market every Sunday and it’s a hip place to chill. Loads of organic food options, Berlin-based art and unique vintage fashion, traditional flea market with bargains, street performances every five meters, robo-art, Turkish families grilling, latinos having a crowded reggaetón/salsa party, Japanese doing some weird flashmob, and the biggest hit of all: a huge karaoke.

Bearpit Karaoke

With huge I mean really huuuuuge!!! The Bearpit Karaoke Show was started by an Irish guy some years ago, who thought it’s said to leave that big open-air amphitheatre abandoned. First an informal karaoke, now a must-see attracting several thousand people every week. If you are good, people will have fun. If you s*ck, you will ber cheered even louder! The old guy Detlef, who sings My Way every week in German, has already his own fan page.

(I could link a video about Detlef, but I decided to search the video of my friend Albert, who visited us from Spain when I was living in Berlin. We decided to play a wicked trick and sign him up for karaoke – and he dared!! Thanks for this unforgettable show, Grasshopper!)

You know what else you can find there? The most delicious vegan burgers (with gluten-free options) at Sunny Day Burgers! An ordinary vegan burger becomes fab with the different types of salsas they offer: from chipotle to mango-maracuja. And the raw vegan cakes will take fly you directly to paradise!!! (Try the peace-braker cardamom-chocolate cake, we had to argue for the last piece).

Pour warm water over the oat flakes. Crush tofu and add soy sauce and salt. Then add chopped and grated vegetables, spices and oil. Mix it. Finally add the oat flakes and enough bread crumbles so that it has a texture that is easy to form but doesn’t fall apart. Leave it for half an hour to soak through. Heat some oil and form the desired size hamburgers with wet hands. It shouldn’t be thicker than 1.7 cm or the middle will remain raw. Also, it shall be too crispy if very thin. As a final touch (and being a good Hungarian), I like to cover the burgers in bread crumbs once again before frying.

We ate it last time with some spicy potatoes, vegannaise and a nice fresh salad. And you?

When in Berlin, we are keen on checking out some recommendations that Uta’s former workplace, the Exberliner magazine gives. Thus we landed at a small and hidden heladeria in the heart of Neukölln, where they had a some unusual and vegan options as well. Uta had Black Sesame and Spicy Mango with vegan coconut whipped cream, and I had Pistachio and Peanut. Mos Eisley is heaven with little hearts for ice cream lovers like us!!

After that we accidentally walked by Tempelhof Garden, but that part of the story you already know.

Our history of homemade ice cream starts with carrots. Yes, too many carrots…

After the smoothie week we had a lot of leftover carrots that we didn’t want to throw away, and I came up with the following recipe. Healthy, homemade and surprisingly delicious. It started out to be a slush but then turned out to be more like a real ice cream. Sweet and creamy!

CARROT-RAISIN ICE CREAM

Ingredients (about 500 ml) :

5 medium carrots, peeled and cut in small pieces

1/2 cup of soy-rice milk or thick coconut cream

1/4 cup of raisins (soaked in water)

2 tbsp of coconut flakes or lemon skin, grated (both optional)

a pinch of cinnamon powder

1 tbsp of cane sugar

Preparation time: 30 min.+ freezing time

Boil the carrots until soft. Let them cool down and then blend with the rest of the ingredients until you have a smooth paste. That goes to the freezer in a wide bowl. You have to blend it every 30 minutes in order to get a creamy result.